Sashiko and boro – a way of fashion

A jacket, jeans, shirt or dress, and even a tracksuit – basically, every piece of clothing we have in our wardrobe is used to have a good look, and at the same time indicate our style. The alteration of clothes or their repair is a fantastic activity that makes the garment unique and special.

For decorating everyday wardrobe and clothes for the so-called special days are more and more often used sashiko and boro. These two foreign-sounding words are incomprehensible to most people, but only for a while. And it is hardly surprising, both of these words, as well as the philosophy behind them, come from distant Japan, where the inhabitants have used fashion recycling for centuries – although they did not know such a concept yet. Sashiko is a form of a decorative reinforcement stitch (or functional embroidery). In previous decades, this style of embroidering on clothes was primarily practical – it was used for darning and reinforcing worn parts of clothing with a special thread and a patch of a piece of other material. When the garments were worn out, they were folded together to form a new garment with simple running stitches – or sashiko. These clothes have increased their durability thanks to this embroidery. Today, this technique is used to decorate a specific piece of clothing with small elements.

Motifs embroidered with the Sashiko method are based on geometric patterns. Popular motifs such as waves, mountains, bamboo, a key threshold, a double cypress fence, arrows, seven treasures, pampas grass, overlapping diamonds, lightning and some others were introduced

into the embroidered pattern over time. A special sashiko thread and needle are used for embroidery. Contemporary sashiko sewing uses a variety of color combinations and is considered a beautiful garment decoration. Many of Sashiko’s patterns are derived from Chinese designs, but also many were developed by the Japanese themselves. The artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) published the book New Forms for Design in 1824, which inspired many of Sashiko’s designs.

Sashiko is combined with boro, which is a technique for strengthening the seam. It began to be used in Japan in the Edo period (1615-1868), not for aesthetic reasons, but for practical reasons, to repair damaged clothes – holes, abrasions or torn pieces of fabric. In those days, every piece of fabric was extremely valuable, and the Japanese – in accordance with their culture and tradition – approached each product with great respect and always repaired the garment or gave it another use. Often the items so cut in such a way were passed on to the next generations. Each piece of cloth was used until it fell apart with age. This way of looking at an everyday object is deeply inscribed in the Japanese philosophy called “mottainai”, where it tries not to waste anything, because each item has its own value. Moreover, manifestations of this philosophy and the desire to repair instead of throwing away can also be found in other areas. It is enough to cite, for example, kintsugi, i.e. the Japanese technique of joining broken ceramics with each other using lacquer with the addition of powdered precious metals, including gold. Over the years, the boro technique began to be used also in decorating clothes, e.g. in embroidery or quilting. Nowadays, when we have such easy access to a whole lot of new clothes – the use of fashion recycling using techniques such as sashiko or boro – some certainly look at a distance. Correcting clothes, remodeling them or patching them up – it doesn’t mean poverty, scarcity or lack of taste – quite the contrary! However, it is boro that begins to stealthily enter the world of fashion. More and more often you can find jeans or other denim clothing decorated with this technique. Nike footwear decorated with sashiko and boro embroidery has also appeared in the fashion world. World fashion houses also use this technique. Denim boro can be seen in the collections and on the catwalks Ready to Wear S / S 2021 Dolce & Gabbana, Greg Lauren Spring 2021 Menswear, Fall Winter 2020 Tom Ford, Spring Summer 2020 Jeremy Scott and in earlier years this technique also appeared in Louis Vuitton.

Not only on the fashion catwalks, but also among people for whom it is important to protect the environment and live according to the zero waste idea, the boro and sashiko techniques will allow you to revive your wardrobe, give it character and style, and at the same time stop throwing clothes out of the trash at the first better opportunity. Remember – the boro and sashiko techniques are beauty, art and attention to detail.

exprimere__te team